For the second time in two days and the third time in two weeks, a core group from the NBA league office and the NBA players union had a more than five-hour negotiating session. NBA Commissioner David Stern called the meetings “intense.”

We don’t know what has been discussed, what potential compromises or deals have been thrown about in those meetings, but we do know that both sides want their full committees to hear what has been talked about.

Next Tuesday there will be a larger meeting in New York in another not-so-secret location (neither side will disclose where the meetings are, but the lobby is always full or reporters). Here are some tweets from Ken Berger of CBS Sports describing what was said.

League and union agreed to bring full committees to New York for larger meeting on Tuesday, David Stern said.

Stern said there is nothing formal to present to larger committees. Time was right to see if there will “be a deal or shouldn’t be a deal.”

Union President Derek Fisher said the reason to bring in the larger groups is because ultimately the larger bodies must ratify any deal, and not to read too much into that meeting. NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said that while no formal full proposals have been exchanged, ideas and concepts have been discussed.

That Tuesday meeting precedes the already scheduled Thursday meeting of the Board of Governors (essentially a meeting of the owners). At that meeting the owners certainly will discuss the labor negotiations but will not vote on cancellation of training camps and preseason games, Stern said.

Also next Thursday there will be a players meeting in Las Vegas to discuss the talks. That is timee with the Impact Training Series in Vegas.

Stern added that what is driving the recent urgency in meetings is the calendar more than progress in the meetings themselves. This is David Stern, so please sprinkle his comments liberally with salt before consuming, but it is possible that the larger groups of owners or players will get together next week and blow up what has been talked about so far. Let’s hope not, but it could happen.